Research released from Supplement Place analyses diet trends around the world revealing every country’s favourite diet, the most popular diets, those which have seen the biggest growth in popularity and those which we are falling out of love with.
The World’s Favourite Diets
The diet with the highest number of global searches was actually the Keto (Ketogenic) diet, which involves high-fat and next to no carbohydrates, in order to force the body to burn fats rather than carbs. Keto was initially developed to help control epilepsy in children but has increasingly been used to affect weight-loss and is considered a modern ‘fad’ diet.
Popular weight-loss programmes such as Weight Watchers and Slimming World also proved popular globally, as did intermittent fasting, which involves alternating between eating and fasting at certain times.
The World’s Top 10 Favourite Diets
Rank Diet Global Searches
1 Keto diet 2,100,000
2 Weight Watchers 1,600,000
3 Intermittent fasting 1,100,000
4 Slimming World 629,000
5 Dukan diet 535,000
6 Veganism 511,000
7 Mediterranean diet 440,000
8 Paleo diet 301,000
9 Pescetarianism 294,000
10 Vegetarianism 279,000
The Diets Gaining Popularity
The report also looks deeper into the diets which have seen the biggest increase in searches in the last five years and which have declined in popularity the most. Right at the top of the list, it was little surprise to see the Dubrow and Mind diets, as these diets were only introduced in the last five years. Behind these, we see that the Keto diet has seen an increase of over 1,300 per cent in the last five years, which outlines just how quickly it has risen to become the world’s favourite diet.
Searches for other medical diets have also increased, such as for the SIBO diet (379 per cent) as well as vegetarian-influenced diets such as plant-based (467 per cent) and pollo pescetarianism (244 per cent) as well as some stranger ones such as kangatarianism (375 per cent) which saw a spike after being mentioned on an episode of Love Island Australia.
Top 10 Diets With The Biggest Five-Year Search Increase
Rank Diet Five-Year Change in Search Interest
1 Dubrow Diet 2646%
2 MIND diet 2393%
3 Ketogenic diet 1302%
4 Whole30 501%
5 Plant-based diet 467%
6 SIBO diet 379%
7 Kangatarianism 375%
8 Intermittent fasting 374%
9 Pollo pescetarian 244%
10 Bulletproof diet 240%
The Diets Falling In Popularity
As for the diets which we’ve fallen out of love with, these were almost exclusively diets which have been criticised as fads, with many actually proven to do more harm than good, so it’s perhaps a good thing that our interest seems to have switched away from these and more towards healthier plant and medical-based diets.
Examples of diets which have seen a big drop in popularity include the cookie diet, which uses a specially formulated meal replacement cookie (consisting of just 800 calories a day), the Kimkins diet, which was found to be a scam, and the Dukan Diet, which is actually still very popular, with 535,000 monthly searches, but has seen an 81 per cent decrease in the last five years.
Top 5 Dieting Falling in Popularity
Rank Diet Five-Year Change in Search Interest
1 The Eat-Clean Diet -92%
2 Kimkins -87%
3 Sonoma diet -84%
4 The Shangri-La Diet -82%
5 Dukan Diet -81%
Each Country’s Favourite Diet
The research also looks at search volume from each country around the world to reveal each one’s preferred diet.
The results showed that the keto diet was certainly the world’s favourite, being the preferred diet in 105 of the 149 nations for which data was available.
Intermittent fasting proved to be the diet of choice in 28 countries, including many in central and eastern Europe, while programmes such as Slimming World were preferred in the UK and Ireland and Weight Watchers in much of western Europe.
Jessica Shand, naturopathic nutrition coach, comments on dieting and the dangers of following a fad diet, “The best advice for people wanting to lose weight is not to start restrictive diets or get sucked into the fads we’re bombarded with online and are sometimes impossible to avoid. Instead my advice would be to set clear and realistic intentions on what it is you want to achieve long term and that you will be able to enjoy (nobody wants something they dread doing, it's no way to live). And remember, it's how you choose to fuel your body that counts, how you decide to nourish your body with the foods it needs to thrive and make your wellbeing your top priority - they go hand in hand.”
“Seek help and advice from qualified experts in nutrition and wellness and don’t go to social media influencers for advice when it comes to your health. Good, well balanced and wholesome nutrition, proper sleep and regular exercise work together to deliver long-lasting results. That will not only help you reach your goals but most importantly will help you feel your best and help you to thrive. Fad diets that promise quick fix weight loss are not the answer, they never were,” she added.